‘I Was Laughing So Hard I Nearly Cried’: WSJ’s Kimberley Strassel Can’t Get Over Green New Deal

8:29 PM 02/07/2019 | Energy

Virginia Kruta | Associate Editor

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The Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley Strassel was not impressed by the rollout of the proposed Green New Deal — in fact, she argued Thursday that “if a bunch of GOPers plotted to forge a fake Democratic bill showing how bonkers the party is, they could not have done a better job.”

As Democrats rolled out the resolution, notably backed by freshman Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the commentary and criticisms rolled out as well. Strassel was firmly and decidedly in the camp of the latter.

1) By the end of the Green New Deal resolution (and accompanying fact sheet) I was laughing so hard I nearly cried. If a bunch of GOPers plotted to forge a fake Democratic bill showing how bonkers the party is, they could not have done a better job. It is beautiful. #GreenNewDeal

Strassel followed her initial tweet with a series of key points to illustrate her initial assessment. The facilities and turbines required to deliver “renewable electricity” on the scale described in the GND, for example, would take up more space than the entire state of California.

2) See Ron Bailey for look at sheer number of turbines, solar panels, facilities necessary just for the “renewable electricity” bit. Wud need 500k square km, bigger than California. Also note, govt will pay for these–not private sector. https://t.co/wQ0C6wonha

She found the connection between a clean economy and the need for single-payer health care — among other things — dubious, at best.

4)Somehow, government-run healthcare, “family sustainable” wages, paid leave, and “affordable” housing are also “required” for a clean economy. I would love to understand this logic. (And imagine what wages will need to be to pay for billion-dollar-per-kilowatt electricity)

5) Key part though people is bit in fact sheet that explains why resolution is not immediately banning fossil fuels or demanding zero-emissions across economy. Because “we aren’t sure that we’ll be able to fully get rid of farting cows and airplanes that fast.” Note “fully.”

6) Planes run on fossil fuel. No fossil fuel, no visits to granny. Cows produce methane, why alarmists want to get rid of livestock. She can’t do it “fully” in 10 years, but AOC is coming after ur air miles and bacon. This is honesty about how Ds wud micromanage private life.

As for the price tag — the solution, on paper, appears simply to be “extend more credit” and build “new public banks” — all of which, loosely translated, amounts to “print more money.”

7)And how to pay for mass trillions in cost? Don’t worry! Federal Reserve will just “extend credit” And “new public banks can be created to extend credit too.” Because, you know, like, money is just paper, and how hard can it be to make some more of the stuff, right? Right?